In our lifetime and in the 246-year history of the republic, there was a time when great men walked astride the United States Senate. It was the crucible of democracy. Once referred to as the greatest deliberative body, and a cooling saucer to modulate the nation's passions, it now fails on all counts.
Today it’s filled with small-minded men and women, whose desire for reelection, money, and partisan advancement over the interests of the people, rules the day. And while there may be more crazies and corruption on one side, the other side has proven itself to be weak freckles and lacking in imagination. All of which makes them just bad at politics.
Certainly, the “how we got here” is a complicated story. There is plenty of blame to go around. However, since 2006, when he became minority leader, Mitch McConnell has sucked dry any moral compass the Senate might have. McConnell's actions during the Obama and Trump presidency may mark the end of the Senate as we know it. Whether it also marks the end of democracy is for today at least, an open question.
That's the question that Senate historian Ira Shapiro takes up in his new look at McConnell Betrayal How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America.
My conversation with Ira Shapiro:
It's Ok To Compromise and Maybe Even to Sellout Sometimes
Human Nature Always Finds A Way
Can the Generational Divide Lead Us Out Of Division?
Do You Need Further Reminders that This Is Not Your Father's Workplace
Why Most Health Care is Barking Up the Wrong Tree
William Greider R.I.P.
Something to Think About As You Eat that Holiday Steak........
Can America's Military Ever Recover?
From Useful Idiot to Working Asset
The Model For Taking It To The Streets
Why Quantum Mechanics Matter and Why You Should Care: A Conversation with Sean Carroll
What Happens to Ancestry Testing DNA?
The Best and the Brightest of America's Diplomats
Kickstarting a Better World
Fake is Sometimes Real
Only Whistleblowers Can Save Democracy
Why is Science Under Assault?
The Battle of Mosul - The Last Great Battle Against Isis
He is a Being Made of Television
The Science of Kindness Is Real
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Jim & Bill (It‘s Another Day)
HauntingLive
Dr. Paul’s Worldviews
The Ben Shapiro Show
Morning Wire